


Whiplash

by DarkestWings



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Gavin Reed Needs a Hug, I guess this could be a redemption arc? Maybe??, Insomnia, M/M, Panic Attacks, Self-Hatred, Still bad at tagging honestly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-06-10 03:27:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15282582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkestWings/pseuds/DarkestWings
Summary: “Did you manage to finish your half of the report on our last case Detective,” Richard asked a lilting tone of mockery in his voice. Gavin had to physically restrain himself from screaming at him in frustration. Gavin didn’t know if he had the mental capacity to deal with this, his anger had been on a short fuse these last few weeks because of his inability to sleep. He supposed that could also be attributed to why he was always such an asshole. A headache was building behind his eyes as he huffed a breath and noticed the smug way Hank was staring at him from across the room where he was chatting with Connor.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, but this was also meant to be a one chapter fic. Honestly my writing is getting out of hand, but I hope you enjoy. It might end up being a really long story because of how screwed up their relationship is right now. Honestly I blame Gavin, he's a fucked up individual and doesn't know how to do relationships. (I swear I have other fandoms besides dbh, I'm just kinda stuck on it right now.)

Gavin Reed leaned back in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose. The sigh he let out sounded about as unforgiving as the sun in death valley; his hair was mused into something resembling chaos. Running his fingers through his hair, or pulling at the soft brown strands was a nervous habit of his that had lived on since he was a young child. Though, his childhood wasn’t something that he liked to think of. 

 

He cast his gray eyes up to the ceiling, red rimming the waterline to make the color seem muddy. He had been up late last night finishing up a report for a case and rubbing his foggy eyes for hours. The raw nature of the skin under his eyes seemed to have survived his four hour cat-nap before he came into the office today. Gavin was used to this by now, he had been doing this since the first homicide he had covered. Late nights with small amounts of sleep and days filled with downing more coffee than was probably healthy had become the norm.

 

Ever since the android revolution, they had been getting more cases from public disturbances caused by people who were against the androids, to burglary and homicides. It was why Gavin was looking a bit more worse for wear than usual. There had been a lot of people in the police force that had quit after the androids were given freedom, and so everyone still in the precinct had been getting swamped. Though recently more androids had joined the force causing less work for everyone who had been overwhelmed.

Gavin supposed it was just because Captain Fowler seemed to have it out for him that Gavin seemed to be the only one still having to overwork himself. Though he supposed he deserved it after the way he had treated Connor. He had every reason to be angry at androids, but he had been such an ass in the past, more because of his own self-hatred. He had been ingrained with it ever since he was old enough to understand things. The self-hatred always seemed to bleed into everything he did, it always had.

 

He supposed it was why he was always prickly to people, not needing anyone else who was close to him to hate him as much as he did himself. He was honestly surprised he had been friends with Chris for as long as he had. It was also why his partner deemed it fit to treat him as if he couldn’t do the simplest of jobs. 

 

He was tired he realized; the kind of tired that made you ache into your bones but couldn’t be cured with any amount of sleep. If he would allow someone to actually get to know him, he wondered if he would still feel this way. He wasn’t able to ponder long before the Rk900 model, Richard, made his presence known with a small downturn of his lips spelling out distaste. His eyes were hard, and reminded Gavin of Mercury; even if the android’s eyes were more blue than silver.

 

“Did you manage to finish your half of the report on our last case Detective,” Richard asked a lilting tone of mockery in his voice. Gavin had to physically restrain himself from screaming at him in frustration. Gavin didn’t know if he had the mental capacity to deal with this, his anger had been on a short fuse these last few weeks because of his inability to sleep. He supposed that could also be attributed to why he was always such an asshole. A headache was building behind his eyes as he huffed a breath and noticed the smug way Hank was staring at him from across the room where he was chatting with Connor.

 

“Yes for your information, I did finish my half of the report. Though I have been doing that for the entirety of your time as my partner for the last week, and since I started working here. I suggest you stop with the attitude tincan,” Gavin grumbled as he grit his teeth. Richard remained unimpressed from where he was on the other side of Gavin’s desk.

 

“Good to know,” Richard remarked scathingly before he moved on to his own desk. A smirk on his face as Gavin grumbled from behind him, it really was too easy to drive him up a wall. He supposed he liked to do so because of the variety of reactions that he had witnessed thus far into their partnership. He could understand why Connor reported Hank to find it amusing.

 

“ Reed and Richard, my office now!” Fowler’s voice rang out, seeming to Hang in the air before snickering arose from hank’s direction. Richard figured it was probably amusing because of the amount of work the captain put on Gavin, and people starting to notice it. Gavin himself was cursing up a storm as he proceeded to the captain’s office ahead of Richard.

 

Gavin was honestly regretting the fact that he had woken up this morning, the headache working its way up into a migraine. He preferred to ignore the way his body was protesting being awake at this point, as his hands trembled. He must have gotten close to six hours of sleep in the past two weeks, more than half of that time had been from his nap last night.

 


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Contains mention of / slight depiction of a panic attack, just wanted to put a warning in case.

Gavin walked into Captain Fowler’s office with an air of disdain and anger so thick it made the small space seemingly hard to breath in. He paid little to no attention to Richard as he followed Gavin into the office and closed the glass door behind him, choosing instead to watch Fowler with narrowed eyes. He knew he had pretty much signed up for shit like this when he got into this line of work, but at the time he hadn’t given a shit. It seemed like such a long time ago to Gavin now, as he stood pissed beyond belief because of the stress that was starting to pile on top of his already sleep deprived and overworked body.

 

“I’ve decided to put the two of you on probation, You’ll both be stuck with desk work indefinitely. You both need to start acting like partners, and until I see an improvement, you’re off homicide. In this line of work it’s imperative that you have trust in your partner since the situation could become one of life and death. Besides, it seems you both need a vacation anyway,” Fowler announced as he looked up at them in dismissal.

 

Gavin had to physically bite his tongue on the retort that was clawing at his throat, fists clenched to the point of turning his knuckles white. He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised that Fowler had done this, but he was surprised by the pang of depression it caused. It was enough to cause his fists to unclench and his eyebrows to furrow before he grunted and turned to walk from the office, still choosing to ignore Richard. He guessed it had caused such a reaction because he was at this point unsure if he could even be friendly towards Richard. Richard seemed determined to always drive him up a wall, so he was always on a defensive high around the other.

 

Richard was still standing in Fowler’s office starring after detective Reed, he was honestly surprised that he hadn’t responded to the captain with anger. As he looked towards Fowler though, he was able to detect the slight shock that showed on the man’s closed off expression. It would seem the Captain had been expecting the same response that Richard had, but he decided to make himself scarce before Fowler could get mad at him for still being in his office. As he walked from the office and spied Gavin once again leaning back in his desk chair, Richard wasn’t sure what to feel about the detective and the fact that they were being forced to become friends. It was a weird situation for sure, but he was more than sure that the push from their captain would be the only way that they would even consider being friendly.

 

Though, the last words that Fowler had shared with him before he left the office were making Richard’s mood begin to sour. He knew it would only worsen once he shared the news with Gavin, so he decided to just rip the Band-Aid off now instead of waiting until later. Walking to Reed’s desk, Richard clenched his hands behind his back; he was feeling uncomfortable with this situation, and wasn’t sure how to act. Gavin looked up with an exasperated sigh, and a look similar to defeat in his eyes and subdued expression.

 

“What can I do for you plastic?” Gavin asked tiredly migraine pounding in his skull and causing his eyes to feel hot. To Gavin Richard seemed a little uncomfortable in his presence, if the pinched expression on his face was anything to go by. He could only assume that Fowler must have wanted something else from the both of them, probably talking to Richard once he had already left the office. Knowing what he did about Fowler, the man had probably done something in the spur of the moment to make him more angry.

 

“ Captain Fowler requires me to accompany you back to your apartment at the end of each work day. He thinks it will force us to interact with each other, so our probation period will be shortened,” Richard stated with a hesitant tone. Gavin could only stare at Richard as his mind processed that information, the straw to break the camel’s back in a sense. Gavin nodded as he harshly refused to let the burning behind his eyes turn into actual tears of frustration, he refused to show such weakness and vulnerability here of all places.

 

“Alright, feel free to get the fuck out of my space before i have to spend an indefinite amount of time with you,” Gavin grunted out as he tried to keep his breathing steady. Of course Fowler would think of everything wouldn’t he? He was so fucking tired of this bullshit, he wondered if he would have still applied for the job if he knew where it would lead him; mental breakdowns included. Gavin waited until Richard had moved onto his own desk to let out the shaky breath he had been holding onto. He realized distantly that his hands were shaking, and his heartbeat was too fast, but he refused to show any other physical signs of the panic attack he was having.

 

Gavin could walk to the bathroom and let the attack run its course, but he had always been prideful and too stubborn to show this weakness even if it was just to himself. Though he was becoming more drained of energy by the minute, Gavin just focused on making the rattle of his lungs quiet and listened to the indistinct murmurs around himself to calm down. It took a while, but he brought himself back by the sheer force of his will.

He thought of the fact that soon he would have to bring the android into his home, and had to swallow the panic that tried to rear its ugly head again. This was going to be a few fun weeks of probably the same behavior, though it could end up being longer he supposed. He traced the scar across his nose just because it had become somewhat of a habit, as he looked across at Richard. The android was sitting with perfect posture in his chair as he worked on his terminal, his LED was flashing yellow and it caused Gavin to feel slight curiosity about what the color meant before he looked back to his own computer.

It was about four hours later that Gavin was slumping into the drivers side of his car while Rk900 slid into the passenger seat with grace. Gavin was just ready to be home, and to possibly get some sleep for once. It seemed that the only time he actually managed to sleep was after having a panic attack. Though thankfully or not, had become a lot less over the years. He started the car and pulled out of the station as his headlights speared through the blanket of darkness around the car.

  
  
  
  
  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys are liking this story so far! I'm working toward making them have more interactions at the moment to speed up the process of friendship. I also have a few ideas about later chapters that I got by looking at some Gavin900 artwork on tumblr. When I work the idea into the story I'll put a link to the artwork and the creator's tumblr. I'm also having fun with playing around with Gavin's character, I have a few ideas about back story and stuff that will eventually get added in at some point . <3


	3. Chapter three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I finished this chapter earlier than I though I would, from this point the story should start to pick up speed ;)  
> Hope you enjoy!

Pulling up to his apartment was a weird experience when Richard was sitting next to him, he honestly wasn’t sure how to feel about Richard knowing where he lived now. Though he did know he would probably be panicking more if he wasn’t half asleep and hadn’t already had a panic attack about this. He didn’t want all of his defenses to crumble, he didn’t want to be hurt like that again. As it stood now though, it was looking like he had no choice. Besides, he had wanted this, right?

 

Richard could only stare out at the apartment complex, slightly surprised that it wasn’t cheap and falling apart. Gavin had been uncomfortably quiet the whole ride, but he had expected as much from him. He was unsure of what to do with himself, but he did want to at least try to get to know Gavin more. He seemed like a big enigma to Richard, and he couldn’t help his curiosity for wanting to figure out how he worked.

 

He was brought out of his reverie when Gavin took in a deep breath before he climbed out of the car. Richard traced the movement with an icy blue gaze before he climbed out himself. He was filled with a slight anticipation to see what Gavin’s apartment was like, wondering if it would help to give him insight into the detective’s life. Gavin was already leaving the android in the dust as he moved across the parking lot. He was halfway across the black asphalt as a small breeze tickled his skin, and he heard his passenger door close. He pushed the locking mechanism on his keychain.

 

He had reached the bottom of the stairs that traveled up the side of the weathered brick building before Richard was able to catch up. The building showed signs of age but was in good condition, and had four floors. Gavin knew there was also an elevator in the building but he liked to used the white wood stairs to hear them creak under his weight. He noticed with slight intrigue that Richard was staring up at the building with barely hidden curiosity in his azure gaze.

 

Gavin’s jaw cracked as he yawned while moving up the stairs to the third floor, slightly annoyed by the noise the android trailing him made. He was honestly just ready to get under his covers to sleep, ignoring the slight pang of hunger in his gut. He hadn’t eaten since breakfast but refused to cook now since he was exhausted. He hoped distantly that Richard wouldn’t be able to tell such a thing if he scanned him, not in the mood for being scolded.

 

Richard followed Gavin off the sets of stairs when they reached the fourth floor, and looked at the rooms they passed with slight impatience. He wanted Gavin to move faster so he could see what his living habits were like, but he hid that behind a mask of indifference. He probably shouldn’t feel this excited about getting to see into Gavin’s life, but he couldn’t really help how he felt. He could see from his position that Gavin was slightly paler than usual, and he felt slight concern. He could scan Gavin but Connor had told him that it was an invasion of privacy and therefore it was viewed as rude.

 

Richard gave a slight grin, being rude had never stopped him before. He scanned Gavin using his position behind Gavin to his advantage, if he had been in Gavin’s line of sight it would be obvious he was scanning him. His and Connor’s faces would become slack and almost lifeless when they scanned something, and he supposed it was just flawed designing on Cyberlife’s part. As his scan completed, he noticed that Gavin was suffering from extreme sleep deprivation. He opened his mouth to make a retort about this, only to be interrupted by Gavin.

 

“Here we are plastic, I guess make yourself at home since you’ll probably be here a lot.” Gavin muttered as he unlocked his door and flicked on the light switch. They were currently standing in a living area space, cream colored carpet complimented by the maroon painted walls. Next to the door was a small window, and across from the door was a TV and a sofa next to a recliner. The living area was connected to a kitchen and had a side hallway that had the doors to a bathroom and bedroom.

 

Richard was surprised that the apartment was spotless of any clothes or trash on the floor. He hadn’t viewed Gavin as someone who valued cleaning. Near the kitchen was a desk next to a bookcase that had pictures on the bottom shelf. He was interested to see what was on the pictures, but was surprised when Gavin went straight to his bedroom. He had mumbled for Richard to and he quotes, “Do whatever the fuck you want, but be the hell quiet.” He figured the detective would be trying to get some sleep, as the bedroom door slammed shut before being locked with a small click.

 

Ignoring the obviously defensive Gavin, Richard moved over to the bookcase and crouched to reach the pictures on the bottom shelf. He counted about five pictures standing up, and two pictures that were hiding behind the rest and laying face down. The first picture was a picture of a younger Gavin and Chris standing outside of the DPD with huge smiles on their faces. He figured it was a picture to commemorate Gavin’s first day on the force instead of just being in the police academy anymore.

 

The second picture that caught his eye was of Gavin when he was probably about ten, standing next to a blonde haired women who was affectionately ruffling his hair. Richard wondered if that was his mother but he couldn’t be sure. When the next two pictures had Gavin and the women in them again with another little boy next to Gavin, he assumed he was correct. The fifth picture was of a man who looked very similar to Gavin with only a few differences, obviously where Gavin had gotten most of his looks. Though he did find it odd that Gavin only had one picture of the man.

 

One of the pictures that had been laying down just had an old picture of a house inside, but the second picture gave Richard a slight shock. In it, Gavin was standing next to an eleven year old Elijah Kamski. They were both smiling with closed eyes and had each other in a side hug.  How did Gavin know the man?

  
  
  


 


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like how this chapter turned out. I was trying for 5,000 words overall, but the chapter decided to end itself 313 words away from the goal :c . I'll be going on vacation in nine days counting today, so I'll try to update after i get back with two chapters. Also when college starts back up in late August updates will probably get slower and have less of a schedule, just to give a heads up. Anyway, please Enjoy! ;)

It wasn’t until seven the next morning that Gavin woke from his dead sleep, and he found himself feeling surprised he had actually slept for so long. Usually the most he could get was four hours. His body felt too sore to try moving yet, but he would have to get up soon so they could leave for the DPD. Even though they weren’t going to be in the field at this point in time, they still had to do desk work. Their shift would be starting at seven forty five today, so that left Gavin with ten to fifteen minutes before he had to get dressed.

 

Gavin yawned, his eyes closing and his body snuggling into his fluffy covers. A soft breath left him as he felt his conscience starting drift back into sleep, but a loud crash from his living area had his body rolling off the bed and into a crouch by his bed. The covers were strewn across the room, having been thrown off the bed when he had moved. It took a few seconds for Gavin to remember that Richard was here with him, already having went to grab the handgun in his dresser.

 

Groaning deep in his throat, Gavin pulled himself out of the crouch before pulling on clothes for the day. He knew he wouldn’t be able to coax his body into more sleep because he was already up. He picked out a black long sleeved V neck and a pair of ripped grey jeans. Irritation always seemed to shadow his every move, it was already a great start to his day. He pulled his bangs out of his face with a black beret, and called it done as he opened his bedroom door. The sight that greeted him though, had him freezing in place.

 

The couch and the space around it were a whole mess. Of the three cushions that had been on that couch, only the far left one remained in its original position. The other two had fallen to the floor, one on top of a bored looking Richard who was on his back facing the ceiling. The other was leaning against him and the couch, Richard tilted his head slightly to look over at Gavin when he noticed the open door. Gavin wasn’t sure if he should feel angry or laugh at the sight, but he did bite his lips just to make sure a laugh wouldn’t escape.

 

“It would seem Detective, that the couch was too small a fit for me.” Richard retorted as he moved to sit up. Gavin couldn’t help it when the laugh slipped from his throat, but the force took him a bit by surprise. Richard was also taken by surprise, something in his chest clenched at the sound. Before Gavin tried to cover up the laugh by coughing, and moving into his kitchenette area with a dusting of pink on his cheeks.

 

Richard traced his movement, appreciatively noting that the clothes Gavin had picked for today fit him well. At the same time, he wasn’t sure how to bring up the topic of Elijah Kamski. He didn’t know when it had started, but he had slowly come to care about how Gavin viewed him. He didn’t want to fuck something up by asking about something he shouldn’t have even seen in the first place. So instead, he began to put the couch cushions back where they belonged before he sat.

 

Gavin grabbed something from his fridge at random to eat, after he finished they could go back to the office. He plopped himself next to Richard, before continuing to eat his breakfast. He started to feel uncomfortable when he noticed the blue eyes watching him curiously from the other side of the couch.

 

“ If I may, can I ask how you got that scar? ” Richard questioned as he gestured at Gavin’s nose. The question caught Gavin off guard for a second, looking over to Richard and noting the way the light from the window casted one side of his face in shadow. His hair which was normally in pristine condition, was spilling onto Richard’s face and lightly tracing the top of his nose. Gavin swallowed around a lump in his throat when he actually managed to process the question. He would need coffee to even attempt that conversation, brain running at half power without added caffeine.

 

Gavin stood from the couch, arms stretching towards the ceiling as his back popped. He didn’t notice his shirt riding up to show a sliver of the skin at his hip, but Richard did. As Gavin walked towards the kitchen without a word to Richard yet, Richard felt the urge to wet his suddenly dry lips. He managed to resist and instead watched as Gavin bustled around the kitchen messing with his coffee maker. He made a mental note of the way Gavin liked his coffee as he watched.

 

Gavin put the pod of donut shop coffee blend into his keurig, and mixed together three spoonfuls of creamer with four scoops of sugar. He pressed the flashing blue button for a cup of coffee instead of a pot of coffee, and waited tapping his foot. When it finished, and all was mixed with no lumps he grabbed two ice cubes and dropped it into the coffee. He had learned the trick from Chris, only two cubes would cool the coffee down just enough to be drinkable quickly.

 

“If the topic of how you got that scar is too personal, I wouldn’t want to intrude. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t wish to tell me Detective.” Richard remarked quietly, voice sincere. The tone, along with the words, caused Gavin’s eyes to widen in surprise. He hadn’t expected Richard would be considerate for once, but regardless, he figured he had to tell someone eventually.

 

“I’ll tell you, but I need caffeine, and we need to start heading to the office unless you feel like being late this morning,” Gavin mumbled as he rubbed a hand down his face. Richard noted the way Gavin seemed uncertain despite his words, but he kept quiet. He honestly didn’t really care if they got into the office late, but he figured that fact would be against the mental picture Gavin had built up of him. Though he guessed Gavin had based that picture in the fact that Richard was never late, and had a reputation for it around the police force.

 

Gavin grabbed his mug of coffee and his keys, throwing the set to let Richard drive. Gavin found he couldn’t really multitask all that well. On their way out the door and to the car, he thought of how he could start that particular story. He could lie about it, but knowing Richard he could detect that. Gathering up what little courage he had to tell this tale, he slide into the passenger seat and buckled up.

 

Richard was carefully watching Gavin, he wouldn’t be surprised if the detective lied to him. He honestly hadn’t meant to ask such a personal question, and he figured the question was just as personal as asking Gavin about how he knew Elijah. He started the car, focusing on relaxing so it wouldn't seem like he was excited about hearing more about Gavin since he had so little information. Backing out of the parking space and then out of the parking lot, Richard was met with only the sight of Gavin drinking his caffeine. When Gavin took a deep breath however, Richard looked back to the road and waited for the man to begin.

 

“Well you absolute trash can, if you must know, I got this scar from… an android. They, uh, ...It lived with my family and I. Took care of us, but it malfunctioned. Slashed me with a shard of broken glass, actually scraped off some of the cartilage. I have a permanent dip under the scar because of it.” Gavin reminisced reluctantly. He didn’t feel like telling the whole story yet, it might have happened over twenty years ago, but it still felt fresh. That translated over into the low grumble of his voice, and he stared out the window like his life depended on it. 

 

Richard could hear that there was more to the story, but Gavin had been honest in what he said. He wouldn’t be pushing Gavin for more information about himself for awhile, Gavin didn’t seem comfortable sharing. At Least, not yet. So awkwardly and full of nerves, Richard laid a hand on Gavin’s shoulder before pulling away again. He wasn’t all that great with words, but he wanted Gavin to know that he wasn’t alone.

 

“Thank you for telling me,” Richard managed to mutter. His eyes on the road again, but noting Gavin gaping at him in his peripheral. Gavin clearly had not expected Richard to touch him to try to comfort him. He could only stare before he quickly looked out the window hiding his quickly heating face. Maybe he should have just stayed home today.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soft Gavin is my fav, but I don't know how much we'll see of that at the moment. Kinda sad about that information, Gavin is just a pain sometimes. We never know though, he might actually cooperate enough to add more of soft boi. Also I'm going to be incorporating a bit of a time skip next chapter because desk work is boring and I don't feel like writing that. ;)


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